The hair follicle at the base of human hairs contains cellular material rich in DNA. In order to be used for DNA analysis, the hair must have been pulled from the body -- hairs that have been broken off do not contain DNA. Any body tissue that has not been degraded is a potential source of DNA.

Can you get DNA from hair?

Hair that is cut or shed does not unfortunately contain any nuclear DNA. For hair DNA testing to be successful the hairs must have the hair follicle attached. ... Nevertheless, whether the hair is old or freshly plucked, you can still conduct your hair DNA paternity test.

Does hair have DNA without the root?

Unfortunately, most hairs do not have the root attached, so using DNA sampling to discover whom it belonged to has been impossible. Thankfully a researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has had a breakthrough in the way DNA can be extracted from hairs.